1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microelectronic die packages and interconnects on a printed circuit board, and more specifically to optical interconnects and packaging for high speed signaling on a printed circuit board.
2. Background Information
Most electronic units include a printed circuit board with electronic packages attached to the printed circuit boards. These electronic packages contain one or more microelectronic dies or other circuitry. The packages are plugged into or otherwise electrically attached to sockets. These sockets are electrically attached to the printed circuit board and connect the microelectronic die or electronic circuits in the package to wiring traces on or embedded in the printed circuit board. The wiring traces provide the interconnections between the microelectronic dies or circuitry on the packages.
Currently, electronic units are operating at faster and faster speeds. As the frequency/operating speed of devices in these units is increased, the wiring traces on existing printed circuit boards (usually composed of copper metal) exhibit high conduction losses. This conduction loss results in attenuated or distorted signals at higher frequencies. Further, the dielectric loss gets worse at higher frequencies.
Increasing the width of the wiring traces is one current solution to the problem of high conduction loss. However, increasing the width of wiring traces reduces the signal routing capability on the printed circuit board (since the wider traces take up more board space). Moreover, wider wiring traces also result in higher dielectric loss. Increasing the dielectric thickness or replacing the dielectric material with new material is one current solution to high dielectric loss. However, increasing the dielectric thickness results in higher cost. Further, developing new material to replace the existing dielectric material is also extremely costly.
Therefore a need exists for a printed circuit board with interconnects and packaging for high speed signaling.